Variable speed mechanism for carding apparatus



Oct. 11, 1955 c. w. CARTER ErAL 2,720,006

VARIABLE SPEED MECHANISM FOR CARDING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 29, 1949 2Sheets-Sheet l s E mgr: X m B i 3 X f/ l 3 X z X 1; N E E K N 1i i E w Ek L E W IE *3 Q 1 L L I. I.

Q I, E. L E X X X E Q O Z M w 3 CHARLES w. CARTER M 1 E55 TAMES s.COWHEY 1' g i y veflibzs i d E y 1 a m flfifizfley Oct. 11, 1955 C. W.CARTER ETAL,

VARIABLE SPEED MECHANISM FOR CARDING APPARATUS Filed 001;. 29, 1949 2Sheets-Sheet 2 CHARLES w. CARTER and JAMES 8. C HEY fiuflflhrs 6y UnitedStates Patent 1 2,720,006 VARIABLE SPEED MECHANISM FOR CARDING APPARATUSCharles W. Carter, Feeding Hills, Mass., and James S.

Cowhey, Hazardville, Conn., assignors, by mesne assignrnents, toBigelow-Sanford Carpet Company, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation ofDelaware Application October 29, 1949, Serial No. 124,468 1 Claim. (Cl.19--160) This invention relates to carding machines and in particular toa method of feeding material, as it is being carded, by means of avariable speed mechanism located between a breaker card and a finishercard.

As is well known in the art, between the breaker card and the finishercard a narrow flat web or round roping of fibrous material is laid fromside to side upon a moving conveyor by means of a traveller running atuniform speed back and forth over the conveyor to form a sheet composedof overlapping webs or parallel ropings which is conveyed into thefinisher card and emerges therefrom in a series of roving ends which arewound on jack spools. It has been found that these several rovingsgradually decrease in weight from the middle jackspool to the endjackspools.

The object of this invention is to produce rovings of substantiallyuniform weight across the spools. In order to accomplish this object thespeed of the traveller is accelerated throughout its travel from theedges of the conveyor to its middle and decelerated throughout itstravel from the middle of the conveyor to its edges. A preferred form ofthe invention is described below and other objects and features willappear from the following description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic elevational view of the delivery end of thebreaker card and the feed end of the finisher card,

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic plan view of the traveller and associatedmechanism, and

Fig. 3 is a side view of the preferred means controlling the variablespeed of the traveller.

The delivery end of the breaker cards consists of a moving apron 2moving in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 2, and upon which the web 4lies and which feeds the web to a point above a conveyor 6 adapted tocarry the web 4 into the finisher card at 8. Below the end of the apron2 and above the conveyor 6 is a traveller 9 which grips the web orroping as it descends from the apron 2, and feeds it onto the conveyor6.

The traveller is caused to travel transversely in relation to theconveyor 6 by means of an endless sprocket chain 12 mounted upon twosprockets 14, 14 around which the chain is driven. Upon one side of thetraveller 9 is mounted what is known in the art as a Scotch yoke 15.Projecting horizontally from and fast to the chain 12 is a pin 16 whichengages the yoke 15.

As the pin, yoke, chain and traveller and the function of each are wellknown, a more detailed description is deemed tobe unnecessary for a fullunderstanding of the present invention which consists of controlling thespeed of the chain 12 which propels the traveller back and forth acrossand above the conveyor 6.

Fast to the axis of the sprocket 14 bearing the chain 12 is a bevel gear31 meshing with bevel gear 32 fast on the shaft C which passes through aside or frame of the mechanism. Fast on the end of the shaft C outsidethe frame is sprocket 20 around which passes chain 25 which also passesaround sprocket 22 rotatably mounted on stub shaft E. Fastconcentrically to the sprocket 22 is a smaller sprocket 21 around whichpasses a chain 26 which also passes around sprocket I mounted on stubshaft F. Adjustably mounted on the sprocket 1 by means of nuts and boltsin the slots 29 is sprocket 40. By

loosening the nuts, the sprocket 40 may be adjusted to any degree ofeccentricity in relation to the sprocket 1 as desired. Chain 28 passesaround the sprocket 40, sprocket 41 and idler sprocket 30. The sprocket41, like the sprocket 40, is adjustably mounted on sprocket 39 to giveit the eccentricity desired in relation to the sprocket 39 by means ofbolts and nuts. It is, of course, optional which sprocket (40 or 41) isset for eccentricity. The idler sprocket is mounted on adjustable arm 27to maintain tension on the chain after the sprockets 40 or 41 have beenadjusted upon sprockets 1 or 39, respectively.

Meshing with gear 39 is gear 18 fast to gear 17 which rotates on stubshaft G and engages gear 10 fast on power shaft A which is run at auniform rotation and drives the train of gears, sprockets and chains,heretofore described, which in turn drives the chain 12 to drive thetraveller 9.

By properly adjusting the location of the sprockets 41 or 40, one or theother being held concentric, and the arm 27, said train transforms theuniform rotation of the shaft A into an accelerating and deceleratingrotation of the shaft C to cause the traveller to accelerate throughoutits travel from the edges of the conveyor to its middle and todecelerate throughout its travel from the middle of the conveyor to itsedges.

It has been found that the variation in speed imparted to the web layingtraveller unit by this combination of gears and chains corrects thefault heretofore existing and described herein and produces rovingswhich are substantially uniform in weight across the jack spools.

Only a preferred means to control the speed of the chain driving thetraveller has been described herein in detail. It is realized that manymodifications such as changing the number of chains and gears and/ortheir relative locations can be made without deviating from theinvention as hereinafter claimed. Other means may also be employed totransfer a uniform rotation into one of acceleration and deceleration,such as a crank arm in combination with a rack and pinion wherein thecrank arm is driven by a source of power and operates the rack in areciprocating motion, the rack meshing with and moti vating a pinion theshaft of which in turn is connected to and propels the traveller backand forth; or an elliptical gear mounted at the source of power andmeshing with and motivating another elliptical gear the shaft of whichis connected with the shaft of the gear propelling the traveller.

The apparatus disclosed herein is claimed in our copending divisionalapplication Serial No. 250,632 filed October 10, 1951.

We claim:

The method of laying a roping of fibrous textile material back and forthacross the width of a card-feeding conveyor, which comprises deliveringthe roping at a constant rate of travel from a delivery point above themiddle of the receiving end of the conveyor to a traveller whichdelivers the roping at a constant rate of travel, and reciprocating thetraveller bodily back and forth across the width and above the conveyorat a continually varying non-uniform speed such that its speed isaccelerated throughout its travel from the edges of the conveyor to itsmiddle and is decelerated throughout its travel from the middle of theconveyor to its edges.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS994,748 Howe June 13, 1911 1,167,950 Stiles Jan. 11, 1916 1,658,860Schorsch Feb. 14, 1928 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,153 Great Britain of 1863490,769 Great Britain Aug. 22, 1928 764 Switzerland Apr. 20, 1889

